


Crush My Heart Into Embers

by Ruthie



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Firebase White, Multiplayer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-05
Updated: 2012-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 00:17:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/424786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruthie/pseuds/Ruthie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Firebase White, Silver, Reapers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wave 1

“There’s been rumours about enemies in this area. Get it controlled and take them out.” were Hackett’s last words before he disconnected. The team glanced at each other, the adept slipping on his helmet, clicking it shut and letting the eye sockets glow a gentle blue. He cocked his pistol and then got to his feet, leaping out of the shuttle after the others, glancing around the area.  
“It’s always cold on Noveria.” he commented, receiving nothing from the others. The Quarian Infiltrator glanced at him before moving on, fixing the green cloth over her helmet. He snorted, running down the ramp to duck behind the metal shields, while she and the Vanguard stood above them, taking their places on either side of the ladders.  
“The Cerberus group here have completely disappeared, and its for a reason.” the Vanguard spoke, her voice low and serious. The three looked at her, “We do what Hackett said. Take them out.”  
“Of course!” the Batarian nodded. Though he was a sentinel, and he had promised the team multiple times that he was ready for this, the adept sent him a look.  
“Oliver.” the team leader snapped, getting his attention. He looked at her, and could feel the stare she was giving him, “He’s one of us. Don’t doubt him.”  
“Sure, Edith.” he mumbled. The Quarian narrowed her eyes and raised her sniper rifle, shooting over their heads and getting a husk in the face.  
“Enemy!” she snapped, gaining their attention. Oliver turned and shot his pistol, thrusting out his free hand to create a warp. That would buy them time. Edith narrowed her eyes, shooting multiple times, getting most of the cannibals and husks that got trapped by the warp. 

“This is easy!” Oliver yelled out, grinning, “Oh, headshot!”  
“Just concentrate, Oliver!” Edith snapped, shooting more. She turned, hearing a familiar growl of a husk at her ear and launched her fist into its face, “Illa! I need your help!”  
The Quarian nodded, reloading her rifle before turning and following Edith to the stairs. Oliver chuckled and shot once more, grunting when he had to reload. He ducked down, avoiding a shot, and the Batarian glanced at him, shooting anything down that approached while his teammate reloaded.  
“You do not trust me?” he grunted, and Oliver sent him a look. Releasing it wasn’t well recognised from underneath a helmet, he shrugged and turned, shooting down a husk.  
“Can I?” he asked back as he raised his hand into the air with a swift flick. The Batarian did the same, shockwaves raging from their palms and knocking their enemies across the railings. Oliver hesitated, brow furrowed, and looked at the Batarian. He nodded a little, “What was your name again?”  
“Egnagg.”  
He laughed. “So, like the food? Eggnog?”  
“What is eggnog?” it was Egnagg’s turn to furrow his brow - at least that’s what Oliver assumed he was doing with his face. Oliver shook his head, his laugh returning and he shot a husk down.  
“I’ll show you when we get back to the ship.” he nodded, and Egnagg smiled before shooting down an approaching marauder. 

“RRARGH!” Edith snarled, grabbing a husk and hauling it across the counter, slamming her fist into its face. Illa winced, watching and then lifted her rifle, shooting a cannibal approaching from behind.  
“You are very good at this!” Illa complimented, advancing with Edith down the second ramp, and Edith ran to the second corner, wincing when she felt her shields break. Resting against the wall momentarily, she nodded that she was ready and they both peeked round into the room, Illa hitting a crouching cannibal and Edith disappearing from her place, charging at a marauder. Illa waited, watching as Edith fired her shotgun into its stomach, breaking its shields and she took her shot: right into its head. Edith let the body drop and turned, nodding to Illa when she joined her side.  
“How d’you think the boys are doing?” Edith asked, approaching the open door. Illa shrugged, glancing out, wincing when she felt a shot miss her head.  
“Whoa, sorry!” Oliver waved, “Trigger happy, I guess!”  
“Watch your damn shots!” Edith warned, storming up to them. Egnagg retreated up the ladder to get ammo, Illa walking after him. Edith smacked Oliver on the shoulder, rolling her eyes, “How’d you do with Egnagg?”  
“Pretty good! Eggnog’s good at what he does.” Oliver straightened up, but they both stopped when Hackett spoke up.  
“Good job team. Get ready, more are coming in.”  
“Sir.” Edith nodded, then looked at Oliver. She reloaded her shotgun, and looked up when Egnagg and Illa stood over them.  
“Are you ready?”  
“Yes!” they both nodded eagerly, and Edith turned, kneeling with Oliver. He cracked his neck, hearing the shatteringly familiar roar of the oncoming wave.


	2. Wave 2

“Are we all ready for this?” Edith repeated from her spot, her fists glowing as she prepared a biotic attack. Oliver glanced at her and then nodded, looking back at the horde of cannibals making their way round the corner. Edith got to her feet, Oliver wincing at the sound of her Biotic Charge. Illa waited carefully, watching as Edith appeared in between the group. Ensuring that she wasn’t going to hit her team-mate, she shot her rifle, managing to get an attacking cannibal from the neck. Edith snarled, clenching her fist and slamming it into the ground, the charged up biotics causing all of her surrounding enemies to fly back, some going past the railings and over the edge.   
One confident cannibal got to its feet slowly, firing its gun at Edith. She winced, feeling her shields go down, but she fired back. Another cannibal from behind shrieked, walking towards her and firing its rifle at her, causing her to leap to the side and flip over the defence wall. She stumbled back, raising her arm to throw them back, but one suddenly froze, a net trapping them in their place. She narrowed her eyes, watching as Egnagg grabbed the second cannibal and stabbed through its head, blood smearing his armour as well as his omnitool until it disappeared. He turned to the one trapped in his net, raising his shotgun and shooting it through the chest twice, ensuring its death.  
  
“Thanks.” she breathed, hauling herself up, ignoring his reaching hand. He nodded all the same, turning to look round the corner to see a marauder hiding behind one of the large boxes.  
  
“Edith, Egg nogg! Hurry up and get back here!” they heard Oliver through the radio, and simultaneously looked over to see Oliver clambering up the ladder to join a struggling Illa. Edith clenched her fists when a husk managed to grab onto Oliver’s helmet, shoving him into the wall.   
  
“We can sneak up behind them and flank the enemy.” Egnagg watched Edith as she slowly looked at him. When she nodded, he reloaded his shotgun and walked with her to the second entrance of the interior lower level, approaching the hiding marauder. It was easily taken out: Egnagg stumbled it out of its hiding place with his shockwave, and Edith slammed her fist into the ground, causing it to crack as well as the marauder to slam into the wall, leaving Egnagg time to slam his fist into its face, fracturing its seemingly robotic eyes. The glow disappeared and it fell to the ground. Edith walked on with a tight grip on her gun, though her other hand was still glowing and ready. Egnagg couldn’t help but notice her increased hostile attitude towards the attacking Reapers.  
  
“There!” Edith snarled, and Egnagg threw the enemy off their feet with a shockwave, while Edith disappeared once more and appeared right in the enemy’s face, punching him with her Omniblade. Egnagg raced to join her, shooting a husk in the face as he passed it, taking it down in one shot. His back hit Edith’s as he turned to face the stairs, shooting at a cannibal as she finished with her targets.  
  
“Turn!” Edith demanded, and he did as told, now facing the wall. She could hear her shockwave ravaging its enemies, and he turned to stand by her side, shooting an already down cannibal to ensure its fate. The pair raced up stairs, stopping at the second level when they heard a deep, rumbling roar.   
  
“Oliver!” Edith snapped, “Did you hear that?!”  
  
“Hear it? I can see it!” he sounded terrified, and they could hear his yells from where they stood without the need of a radio. Edith closed her eyes when she heard him interrupted by the Brute’s snarling, and a few explosions. Egnagg turned and ran up towards the attacking Brute, Edith joining him just in time to see Oliver being thrown back into a corner, his body smashing against the wall. His body slumped on the floor, Edith growled and yelled his name before charging at the Brute, much to Illa’s concern. She took out more grenades, thrusting them out at the Brute as it swiped at Edith, hitting her into the railings. Egnagg and Illa backed up towards the Launch Pad as the Brute lumbered towards them, and the Quarian winced when she felt shots into her back.  
  
“My suit!” she snapped, turning and aiming her rifle, shooting a marauder before it could duck behind the landed shuttle. Egnagg continued to shoot at the Brute, glancing over behind it as Edith ran to Oliver.  
  
“Oliver!” she hissed, hovering her omnitool over him as she revived him, “Oliver, speak to me!”  
  
“I’m alright, boss!” he coughed, sitting up. His helmet was cracked, the line making its way from the top of his head and through the right eye. Edith frowned, staring at the thin openings before looking back over at the Brute. She helped him to his feet before running on, grabbing some ammo and reloading her gun. Illa winced as she felt more hits from the Marauder, quickly ducking behind one of the metal ‘shield’s that he was in when his back was turned. As soon as the Marauder moved to stand and shoot, she grabbed him by the neck and threw him over to her side, taking him down before rolling out of the way of the oncoming Brute, who dented the metal cover instead. Illa gasped for breath, jumping up to stand beside Egnagg again, aiming her rifle at the Brute. She shot with Egnagg, Illa backing up as she reloaded, however the two looked over as Edith and Oliver ran at the Brute, Oliver using a Warp on the Brute. The move caused it to stumble, and Edith Charged at the Reaper, the hit forcing it back and then to fall and collapse onto the shuttle, breaking the glass. Edith turned, breathing heavily. Egnagg nodded with approval and Illa looked from Oliver to Edith.  
  
“That was _very_ impressive.” she complimented, walking with them back to the upper level. Edith said nothing, marching to the ammo to reload. Oliver nodded, looking at his team-mates.  
  
“We’re a good team!” he agreed, “You did good distracting it!”  
  
“Thank you.” Illa reloaded her sniper rifle, taking some more ammo and grenades to her person. Egnagg joined her, and Edith walked over to stand silently beside Oliver. The man pursed his dry lips before looking at her.  
  
“You worried about me,” he spoke quietly, a hint of teasing in his voice.  
  
“You’re a team member.” Edith glanced at him, “I wanted you to survive. We need four people.”  
  
“Edith, we’re friends! It’s alright for you to worry.”  
  
She paused, looking down at her feet. Then she looked back at him, barely seeing the blue eyes through the crack. Her facial features softened, and she was thankful for her in tact helmet.  
  
“I suppose… I was,” she mumbled, playing with her gun to distract herself, “We’ve known each other for over twenty years.”  
  
“Exactly.” Oliver looked over as Egnagg and Illa joined them, and Edith straightened up and turned to look at them too, the four standing in a circle.  
  
“Things are going well so far!” Oliver noted, but Hackett quickly interrupted.  
  
“Good going team. The enemy’s getting another wave ready. Be careful.” he warned, and Edith let out another ‘sir’ to acknowledge him. Illa smiled a little, noticing how militaristic she was. But Edith hopped down the ladders to stand by the covers again, joined by Egnagg, and Oliver opted to stay up top with Illa.  
  
“What was your name again?” Oliver asked quickly, kneeling down as he took cover.  
  
“Illa! Illa’Ko-”  
  
But before she could finish, there was a shot. Multiple shots. They shot through Illa’s armour and to her stomach, just over Oliver’s shoulders. She fell to her knees, holding the wound and then collapsed to the ground.  
  
“NO!”


	3. Wave 3

“Illa!” Oliver yelled, diving forward to revive her, “Stay with me! What was your name again?”

“Ugh… Suit… Breached…” she murmured incoherently, gripping her gun for dear life. She could hear Egnagg and Edith firing their guns at the launch pad, defending them from what was coming. But just as he tried to revive his squad mate, he felt something grab his shoulder, clawing him away from his duty, and he felt himself collapse to the ground beside Illa as a husk slammed its nails into his helmet, seeing the crack and attempting to pry it open. He groaned loudly, lifting up his gun and shooting it through the jaw, its grip loosening and he threw it off over the ladders, quickly returning to revive Illa.

“Is she alright?” Edith yelled, running up the ramp to join them, Egnagg behind her, “We need to find a secure area, this is too open!”

Illa rose to her feet with the help of Oliver, an arm around each other as she regained her footing and held her rifle tightly to ensure it wasn’t lost in the flurry. They followed, Illa’s feet sliding and tripping as she tried to keep her balance, and she quickly leaned on the wall to catch her breath.

“Illa, move!” Edith snapped, racing down the ramp and shooting down an oncoming husk. Oliver stood with Illa, sending the oncoming enemies off their feet with a wave of biotics, and allowing the quarian to lift her rifle and take out a fallen cannibal.

“Good, we’re ready to go!” Oliver called, and Edith and Egnagg moved on through the lower area, shooting down a marauder that was in their path. Oliver and Illa ran to catch up, racing to the corner of the room. Nestling behind the covers, Edith reloaded her gun and looked at the others.

“Illa, do you have a good view of the stairs outside?” she questioned, and she nodded, taking her spot and readying her gun. Approving, Edith looked round to Oliver and Egnagg, “Oliver, you keep that door free in case we need to retreat further; Egnagg, stay with me!”

Their orders were given, and followed to the letter. The only thing that had stopped Illa from aiming was the horrific, spine tingling screech that could only mean one thing. The quarian’s breath hitched, and the squad faltered, eyes darting for the source of the echoing shriek. And then Illa spotted it through the scope, the oncoming Banshee that was appeared down the stairs at an alarming pace.

“There!” Illa threw a grenade as she shouted, causing them all to turn and shoot at the banshee. She was the most important thing to get rid of - if they didn’t, then this mission was over before it even began. Backing up towards the back door, Illa throwing another grenade at the banshee, they ran out to try and race back up to the launch pad, in hopes of putting some space between them and the banshee. Edith grunted, hitting one of the metal covers to dodge a barrage of shots from cannibals, allowing Oliver and Egnagg to remove them from the path with shockwaves.

“What’s our plan?” Illa questioned, reloading her sniper rifle and Edith shook her head.

“We get to a safer area - grab your ammo!” Edith finally ordered, racing along, scooping up her own ammo and shooting husks as she passed them by. Her squad followed, and they could feel the banshee’s screech echoing through their bones when she noticed them. Egnagg roared as he felt his shields break, stumbling up the stairs, though Edith gripped his arm and pulled him with her, her eyes moving from her comrade to the oncoming banshee.

“Come on people, let’s move!” Edith yelled out, ducking behind the brute and smashed in shuttle. Oliver caught his breath, reloading his gun before peeking round, a warp flying at the banshee. Edith nodded, watching as the banshee was momentarily stopped in confusion before she charged at it, a battle cry raging from her lips, and she slammed into the banshee with no regrets. Illa let out a gasp of confusion, shooting at the banshee with her sniper rifle. The biotic explosion allowed Edith time to roll to the side and escape her potential death, letting Illa throw another sticky grenade, managing to hit her right on the head. This did nothing unfortunately, and Oliver growled, creating another warp, allowing Egnagg to create another biotic explosion with his shockwave.

“She’s getting closer!” Oliver cried, backing up towards the edge of the launch pad.

“One enemy left!” Hackett ordered, “Take it down!”

“Shit, shit, shit!” Oliver hissed, reloading his gun as the banshee advanced on him. He could hear Edith calling out his name desperately, but she was getting too close. He could feel the biotics pulsating from her body, and he fell back, nearly hanging off the edge. Her claws coiled as she reached for him, but a combination of biotics fired at her from behind, a grenade causing part of her grated ‘skin’ to fall onto Oliver’s armour, and her body began to convulse and, for lack of a better word, melt. Oliver breathed out heavily, arms shaking as he brought himself to his feet.

“Oliver!” Edith marched over, grabbing an arm to keep him steady, her tone was as stoic as ever, though if only he could see her eyes, “Oliver, are you okay? Oliver! Answer me!”

“I’m fine!” he waved her off, patting her arm when she loosened her grip, “I’m fine, don’t worry about me!”

“That was too close,” Illa warned, and the four quickly returned to above the ladders, Oliver rolling his shoulder. Edith watched him carefully, making him look at her with a jab to the jaw. He turned his head obediently, shoulders tense.

“Your helmet.” she narrowed her eyes, concerned, “It’s becoming more of a decoration than anything.”

“I thought it made me look pretty bad ass.” he shrugged as she moved on to reload her gun. Illa straightened up, rolling her aching shoulders.

“May I inquire what ‘bad ass’ means?” she looked at both Oliver and Edith as they walked over. The question caused Egnagg to snort in amusement while he inspected his gun, a chuckle erupting from his throat.

“He thinks it makes him look impressive.” he looked Oliver up and down, but a smile was present. Unfortunately, it wasn’t clear what type it was - with a batarian, you could expect any and every type of smile, “Not that it matters, we’re the only people here you need to impress.”

“And I’m impressed already!” Illa chirped, lifting her gun.

“Alright, alright!” Edith interrupted, walking past them to the ladders, “We don’t need to feed his ego, it’s big enough as is! Let’s get ready, shall we? There’s plenty more banshees than that!”


	4. Wave 4

Oliver smirked as he stood beside Edith, rolling his shoulders. Edith sent him an uncomfortable glance, while Egnagg leaned over the edge, calling down to them.  
  
“So, where are you both from?” he questioned, that supposedly friendly smile appeared again. Oliver returned it, turning a little.  
  
“I grew up on Asteria, a colony in the Attican Traverse.”  
  
“That’s got both asari and human, right?” Egnagg smirked, “That must’ve been a good place to grow up! Those asari sure know their way around a body-”  
  
Oliver laughed loudly, looking back ahead and aiming his gun, while Edith sent the human a warning glance. Not that it did much good - her helmet was still secure on her head. Oliver glanced at her, cracked lips pursing to hush his laughter.  
  
“What?” he muttered over Hackett’s warning that they were approaching, “It’s true! Had a crush on an asari girl, actually. She wasn’t interested though, her mom was all into pure breeding-”  
  
“Oliver!” Edith snapped, firing her gun as husks crept from around corners, “This is not the time!”  
  
“The pureblood asari’s are always the prettiest,” Egnagg spoke over the gunfire, smirking at Oliver when he looked up at him. Sending a shockwave through his ally and inadvertently protecting him from an oncoming cannibal, Egnagg continued, “But they’re sometimes the most dangerous, too!”  
  
“How?” Illa questioned, charging her Omni-dagger and stabbing it through a husk’s face, giving her a chance to catch her breath, “Every asari has adept powers, do they not?”  
  
“Oh, no! Some of them turn into this thing called Ardat-Yakshi,” Egnagg responded, kicking down a husk from on top of the ladders. Upon hearing Oliver’s yell of surprise, Egnagg cackled and looked back at Illa, raising his gun to shoot a net over her shoulder, freezing a marauder in place, “Dangerous as fuck; you don’t want to run into any of ‘em, if you ask me.”  
  
Edith made a sort of derogative noise, causing Egnagg to look at her. When she felt eyes on her, she turned her head to look at him.  
  
“What?” he demanded, eyes moving to the ramp when he heard the low threatening snarl of a brute. No, not just one - he could see two! Two damn brutes right next to each other! He grabbed Illa’s arm and pulled her back, watching the two approaching predators before looking back at Edith.  
  
“I, just- I’ve never met a Batarian who’s so…” she stopped herself mid-sentence, and Egnagg snorted, gesturing for Illa to throw her grenades.  
  
“ _Intelligent_?” he sneered, and Edith avoided looking at him, taking down another husk. He glared down at her, but quickly retreated further to the landing pad, Illa throwing her last grenade. The brute stumbled, hitting into the other one, causing the second to claw at the brute disapprovingly, roaring in its face.  
  
“Back off, back off!” Egnagg ordered to Illa, who ran down to Edith and Oliver, “Are these the only two left?”  
  
“I don’t think so!” Edith ordered, glancing her shoulder in fear of a flank, “Anyone got any missiles?!”  
  
“I should!” Illa rested her sniper aside, reaching to her back for heir missile launcher. All she felt instead was a clawing hand taking a hold of her wrist, nails digging down into her suit. She cried out, stumbling into the wall and being pinned by the husk, who was doing its best to rip through her armour, low rasping sounds escaping from its mouth.  
  
“Illa!” Oliver snapped, taking hold of the husk and ripping it off her. Slamming it into the ground, his foot came down onto its face, giving Illa her chance to remove the missile launcher and aim it carefully. Egnagg was running towards them, roaring about ‘not shooting yet’ because he was still in the way. Illa narrowed her eyes, a breath slowly escaping her as she relaxed, and she pressed the trigger.  
  
Egnagg yelled out angrily as Illa ignored his requests. Taking a leaping roll forward, he turned to his side to watch from the ground: the missile hit the second brute right in the face, exploding - however it was close enough to the first to create an impact, and the brute slammed into   
  
“Edith!” Oliver snapped, reloading his gun and kicking back another husk, “I need your help!”  
  
“I’m here!” Edith snarled, shooting down a few husks at once with her shotgun. Oliver grit his teeth, his warp catching the further on coming husks, and Edith ran forward, her fist slamming into the ground, creating a biotic explosion. The husks bodies flew out of the way, some going as far as over the edge and down into the slopes. Oliver ran to the edge, feet leaping up onto the silver bars like a child.  
  
“Whoa.” he let out, turning to look as Illa and Egnagg joined him to admire their handy work. The batarian turned is head to glance at Edith, who looked back before turning and walking away up the ladders. Egnagg sighed, looking down then back at Oliver and Illa, who were gathering ammo.  
  
“Looks like we’ve got a blocked pathway now,” Oliver commented, elbowing Illa jokingly. The quarian let out a nervous chuckle, fixing the cloth over her helmet and looked over at the brutes as she clambered up the ladders.  
  
“I did not mean to do _that_ …”   
  
“At least they’re dead.” Edith reloaded her gun, walking forward, “Hurry up and get ready, we’ve got along way to go before we can get off this place.”  
  
Oliver watched her go, brow knitting, but quickly reloaded his pistol and leaned on the wall, taking in a deep breath. He could hear Edith’s thoughts now, and he looked down to watch her again.  
  
 _It’s only going to be more difficult from here on out. Man up, shut up and stop gossiping like little girls._  
  
Illa took him out of his thoughts, nudging him gently.  
  
“You alright?” she questioned, and Oliver nodded. She smiled, nodding, “Good! We should be on our guard.”  
  
Oliver nodded, sending a glance from Illa to Edith as the quarian joined his friend, before looking back ahead, raising his pistol. She was right, though. Oliver wasn’t planning on dying on this damned popsicle of a planet.


End file.
